Ohio History Journal

MILL CREEK PARK

 

AND THE

SOURCE OF MILL CREEK

 

 

BY CHARLES BURLEIGH GALBREATH

 

When the earth took spherical and solid form, it

presented in the earliest ages whose records have been

deciphered on the rocks, a surface of land and water.

The continental areas were then limited and low.

Much of what now constitutes the dry land was under

water. In North America the land portions were chiefly

north of the Great Lakes. What is now the Mississippi

valley was then covered by a great inland sea of com-

paratively shallow depth.

It should be remembered that sedimentary rocks, or

those formed and placed by the action of water, are de-

posited in successive layers or strata. At the basis of

all such rock formation is what, for a better designa-

tion, we may call the primordial bed-rock. Scientists

differ as to its origin. Those who still accept the nebular

hypothesis of Laplace claim that this bed-rock is a part

of the original crust of the earth and was formed when

the surface changed, in cooling, from a molten to a

solid condition. Others claim that the heat that pro-

duced this came from the center of the earth. It is

enough for us to know that this primordial bed-rock

exists; that its condition is due to heat; that the ele-

ments composing it are of igneous or metamorphic

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek  139

origin. Upon this foundation were deposited the sedi-

mentary rock formations of subsequent time.

The first dry land in what is now Ohio was part of

an island in the south-west corner of the State which

gradually rose from the surface of the sea including also

portions of what is now Indiana and Kentucky. The

period of this island formation is called the Ordovician.

This period was followed by the Silurian, in which

this dry land was greatly extended toward the north-

east; another portion belonging to this period extended

from the south-western shore of Lake Erie in a south-

western direction, separated from the larger portion be-

longing to the same period by a strait of the inland or

epicontinental sea.

The Silurian was followed by the Monroe period. In

this dry land was again extended in a general easterly

direction; the strait between the two portions of the

Silurian formation was closed; but a portion of present

north-western and more than the eastern half of the

State was still under water.

This was followed by the Devonian period which ex-

tended the dry land and formed the rim of the south-

eastern shore of Lake Erie, but did not extend so far

south as Mahoning County. At the end of the Devonian

period Mahoning and Columbiana counties were still

under water.

The shallow waters that spread over these two coun-

ties were teeming with the marine life of the Devonian

period--the "age of fishes." The fossil remains of this

period became imbedded in the rocks forming at the bot-

tom of the epicontinental sea. The bottom of this sea

was gradually rising and later became the surface of the

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140      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

dry land of these two counties. This extension of dry

land is known as the Mississippian period.

The next extension of dry land to the south and east

is the Pennsylvanian period. At its close practically all

of the epicontinental sea was excluded from what is now

Ohio. Only a narrow strip along the south-eastern

part of the State remained.

In the following or Permian period this portion rose

from the sea and all of what we now call Ohio became

dry land.

While the formation of the earth's crust in Ohio

presents a regular procession from the emergence of the

Ordovician island above the epicontinental sea to the

final disappearance of that sea in the Permian period,

it must not be concluded that this procession was at no

time interrupted. In some of the periods vast areas of

land were raised above the water and subsequently sank

beneath the waves to rise again and become what we

now know as a permanent part of the dry land.

The evolution from the primordial bed-rock of the

continental sea to permanent dry land has been all too

briefly traced. It is hoped that the maps included in

the appendix to this contribution may help the layman,

who has not studied geology, to follow this evolution.

The region including Youngstown, Mill Creek Park

and its valley to the spring at its source belongs to the

Mississippian and the Pennsylvanian divisions of the

Carboniferous period. A booklet entitled Introducing

Our Ancestors, setting forth in detail "the geology of

Youngstown," by John Chase, published in 1928, gives

detailed description of the geology not only of Youngs-

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek      141

town but of adjacent regions. We quote briefly from

its pages:

There was no period in the history of our earth when life

was so abundant as in the Pennsylvanian formation of the car-

boniferous period. The rocks of the north hill, those high up on

Market Street and on the east side were laid down at this time.

The earth was just about two-thirds done when this took place.

The world was just about a junior in high school. In other

words it was about 65,000,000 years old if we calculate roughly

that the world is approximately 100,000,000 years old now. This

total age of our earth can only be estimated. A new method of

determination by noting how much radium has turned to lead in

the lava of different ages (more having turned in the old rocks)

would seem to triple and even multiply by ten earth's age, but the

above is a safe minimum.

This goes to show that in estimating the length of

geological periods of time one does not need to be over

careful in the matter of a few hundred million years.

Since first this continent emerged

From recordless abyss,

the State of Ohio has grown from the earliest geological

time through millions of years. Long after the epicon-

tinental sea had receded from what now constitutes Ohio

and this region had become permanently dry land, a

great ice-sheet or glacier slowly descended from what is

now Canada, moving over Lake Erie and a large por-

tion of the Ohio country. Some writers have estimated

that this ice-sheet was in places perhaps two miles thick.

It brought with it great quantities of granite rock from

Canada and these are now found distributed over the

region that it covers. It leveled the surface of the earth

over which it passed, ground rock formations into sand

and silt, filled valleys, dammed streams and rivers and

changed in many instances the surface and drainage

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek      143

systems of northern and western Ohio. It pressed on-

ward until the ice melted at the southern limit indicated

on the map.

Some evidence has been found indicating that man

inhabited the region before the descent of this glacier,

but this evidence is far from satisfactory and conclusive.

Following the ice age this region was the abode of

many animals of immense size. The mastodon and the

mammoth roamed over the plains and through the for-

ests. The skeleton of a mastodon found in Franklin

County is now on exhibition at Ohio State University.

The skeleton of a mammoth found in Morrow County,

unmounted, is in the Ohio State Archaeological and His-

torical Society Museum.

In his Historical Collections of Ohio, Henry Howe

makes the following statement:

No single cause has done more to diversify the surface of

the country, to add to the attractiveness of the scenery and to

furnish the key by which the condition of the ice age can be re-

produced to the mind's eye than glacial dams. To them we owe

the present existence of nearly all the waterfalls of North

America, as well as nearly all the lakes.

He then proceeds to describe the dam made in the

vicinity of what is now Cincinnati when the great

glacier came down from the north and pushed across

the river there:

 

A glacial dam across the Ohio River is supposed to have

existed at the site of Cincinnati during the Ice Age and the evi-

dence supporting the theory is so full and conclusive that its

existence can almost be assumed as an absolute certainty.

Howe then quotes at length from Professor G.

Frederick Wright in support of this statement and pre-

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144       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

sents a map showing the large area covered by this dam

leading up the Ohio River beyond the city of Pittsburgh

and extending in width from Charleston, West Virginia,

to Columbus, Ohio.

In his booklet to which reference has already been

made Mr. Chase presents a map showing that originally

the Ohio River flowed through the valley of the Beaver

River, into the Mahoning, past the present site of

Youngstown, through the valley of Grand River north-

ward and emptied into Lake Erie. In the Ice Age the

glacier moved southward over the site of Youngstown,

dammed the Beaver River and poured the drainage from

that stream accelerated by its own melting waters into

the Ohio and down the channel which it has since fol-

lowed.

An eminent divine, in his popular lecture, "The

Sunny Side of Life," introduced his subject with the

following sentence:

While we may leave it to the evolutionist to guess where we

came from and to the theologian to prophesy to where we are

to go, we still have left for our consideration the important fact

that we are here.

He followed this with the statement that it was a

very good place to be; for where could we find Nature

more appropriately arrayed; what could be a better

color for the grass of the meadow and the foliage of

the forest than green; or the water than crystalline; or

the sky than blue; or the sunshine than golden. He then

drew the conclusion that mortals are fortunate to get

aboard this grand old earth of ours at the close of the

nineteenth century in the United States of America.

Later it was the writer's privilege to hear Edward

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek          145

Vol. XLIII--10l

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146       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

Orton, Jr., the geologist, read a paper in which he spoke

as one having authority. He had long studied the pro-

cession of the ages as deciphered from the rocks and in

intimate association with his distinguished father. In

this paper he concluded that we are most fortunate to

live in the opening years of the twentieth century when

the earth has assumed a comparatively quiet condition,

when knowledge "rich with the spoils of time," has won

new victories and hand in hand with Nature has brought

to humanity "the golden age of all time."

The poets for generations have brought tribute to

Nature:

To sit on rocks, to look o'er flood and fell

To slowly trace the forest's shady scene

Where things that own not man's dominion dwell

And mortal foot hath ne'er or rarely been;

To climb the trackless mountain all unseen

With the wild flock that never needs a fold,

Alone o'er steeps and foaming falls to lean--

This is not solitude; 'tis but to hold

Converse with Nature's charms and view her stores unroll.

And who has not heard and committed to memory

the lines of our American poet:

To him who in the love of Nature holds

Communion with her visible forms she speaks

A various language; for his gayer hours

She has a voice of gladness, and a smile

And eloquence of beauty, and she glides

Into his darker musings with a mild

And healing sympathy, that steals away

Their sharpness ere he is aware.

"She has a smile and eloquence of beauty."

Where, if not in the wide and varied realm of nature

shall we find beauty? When fortune throws us into

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek  147

intimate relation with this realm and makes its treas-

ures our daily portion we may take them all as a matter

of course. When, however, we are removed from this

fortunate environment we feel, somewhat vaguely, per-

haps, that something has gone out of our lives; and

when it is our fortune to return to the old familiar

haunts of nature, we find in them a beauty and a majesty

never recognized before.

A youth who had witnessed the resurrection of the

spring-time every year since his infancy went to live

in-doors in a city and returned to the old farm in apple-

blossom time. As he gazed on the orchard, which was

a wilderness of bloom, and inhaled the delicate fra-

grance, he audibly uttered from the fullness of his heart,

"What could be more beautiful?" A trip to the wood-

land when trees and flowers are in their springtime array

reveals new beauties never recognized before.

To city dwellers proximity of a public park offers

opportunity for that communion with nature to which

the poets pay tribute.  Here are rest and health and

beauty in her varied visible forms.

While Ohio has a goodly number of parks of various

kinds, that fact has not been prominently featured in

any history that has been written. Such has been the

growth of interest in the subject that it is safe to say

that it will claim steadily increasing attention through

the coming years not only in Ohio but generally through-

out the United States.

Space in this hastily written contribution will not

afford room for a list and even a brief description of all

the parks in our State. Many of these are so small

that they should better be called Monuments or Me-

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148      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

morials and it is scarcely necessary to say that the park

depends for its importance on its size. We shall do

well to remember as we have quoted an enthusiast, that

other things being equal, an ideal park should have at

the outset, grounds ample for its purposes.

Columbus, our capital city, has four parks that are

worthy of mention. They are named in chronological

order of their establishment: Schiller, Goodale, Frank-

lin and Riverside Parks.

Cleveland, the metropolis of the State, has Rocke-

feller Park, containing 273 acres--once the residence

of John D. Rockefeller. It has, also, Gordon Park, 112

acres, and Wade Park, 85 acres, which is really an ex-

tension of Gordon, making of both 197 acres; Edge-

water, 126 acres; Brookside, 149 acres; Woodland Hills,

102 acres; Shaker Heights, 279 acres; also Lincoln Park

and Franklin Circle.

Mount Airy Forest Park, the largest in suburban

Cincinnati, contains 973 acres; Eden Park, 209 acres;

Burnet Woods, 165 acres; Ault Park, 172 acres;

Blackly Farm, 114 acres; Mount Echo, 51 acres; Mount

Storm, 67 acres; Parker's Woods, 32 acres.

Toledo has Ottawa, Bay View, Navarre, City, and

Collins Parks with an aggregate of 910 acres.

St. Louis has the famous Forest Park in which the

Louisiana Purchase Exposition was held, containing

1372 acres; also Tower Grove and attractive Shaw's

Garden, containing an aggregate of 207 acres.

The important parks of Chicago are Lincoln, 320

acres; Lake Front, 210 acres; Jackson, in which the

Columbian Exposition was held in 1893, 580 acres;

Humboldt, 200 acres.

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek  149

The famous New York Central Park contains 840

acres; Bronx, 719 acres; Prospect Park in Brooklyn,

516 acres; Silver Lake on Staten Island, 300 acres.

Wissahickon Valley Park in Philadelphia, greatly

famed for its wild and unspoiled beauty, a park in the

same class as Mill Creek, is smaller, containing 1010

acres.

Youngstown has five parks:

Lincoln Park, the second in size, is located in the

eastern part of the city. It includes Dry Run gorge and

hilltop land aggregating sixty acres.

Crandall Park is located in the northern part of the

city. It includes a deep and picturesque gorge and has

an area of fifty acres.

Wick Park, located in the North Side, well within the

city limits, was donated to the city by the Wick family.

It is a level tract and has been beautified by flower beds.

It contains thirty-four acres.

Pine Hollow Park comprises a deep, heavily wooded

gorge twenty-two acres in extent.

Mill Creek Park, it will be seen, now surpasses in

extent many of the famous parks of the larger cities of

the United States and contains 1375 acres. Even

the famous Golden Gate Park of San Francisco contains

only a little more than 1000 acres.

In an appendix to this contribution there is given a

list of parks in Ohio under national and state control.

This contribution will be devoted largely to Mill Creek

Park of Youngstown, Ohio, the largest municipal park

in the State, one of the largest in the United States and

one unsurpassed anywhere in the variety and extent of

its natural scenic beauty.

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MILL CREEK PARK*

Mill Creek Park is the property of Youngstown

Township, Mahoning County, Ohio, including the City

of Youngstown. It is located partly within the city

limits and there are two entrances, each one and one-

fourth miles from Central Square, the central business

portion of the city.

The one dominating feature of the park is its natural,

beautiful and picturesque scenery. An eminent land-

scape architect, the late Charles Eliot of Boston (son of

Dr. Charles W. Eliot, president of Harvard College),

who visited the park in 1891, after careful observation

said:

"So far as natural beauty is concerned there is no

park in the country to compare with Mill Creek Park.

It is as if a bit of choice scenery had been taken from

the mountains of Switzerland, and deposited in a level

country."

Another eminent landscape architect, the late H. W.

S. Cleveland, of Minneapolis, visited this park in 1893

and afterwards wrote of it as follows:

"The existence of a tract comprising such a rare

combination of attractive natural features in the imme-

diate vicinity of a city is, so far as my experience goes,

unparalleled elsewhere.

"The fact that for its whole extent it has been pre-

served from vandalism by those who have no conception

of any other than a pecuniary value, and finally the

appreciation of its character and capacity for develop-

* The portion of the contribution under this caption, with the exception

of the quotation from Mr. Thomas, is taken from the book by Volney

Rogers, to which reference is made on page 161.

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152      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

ment, which has led to its being secured and reserved

for all coming time, as a resort for refreshment and

enjoyment by all classes of citizens, are each and all

subjects for congratulation, the essential value and

importance of which cannot be justly measured; but will

certainly go on from year to year and cannot fail event-

ually to confer a distinctive character upon your city,

as the possessor of a park so unique in the variety and

beauty of its natural scenery that it cannot elsewhere

be rivaled."

Mr. Edward S. Thomas, curator of Natural History

of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society,

who has visited the Park and addressed audiences there,

has very recently written the following appreciation:

"Mill Creek Park is the most beautiful and spectac-

ular municipal park in the State of Ohio--perhaps in

the United States. I realize that there are many

municipal parks in Ohio and many more in the United

States which I have not been privileged to see. How-

ever, I stand by my statement, confident that no city

park, regardless of its beauty, could be more beautiful

and spectacular than Mill Creek Park. At the same

time, I must confess that I have a particular weakness

for massive sandstone cliffs and deep, dark gorges

carved in the sandstone rock, and hence I may be

grossly prejudiced in favor of the subject of these re-

marks.

"Imagine if you will, such a gorge winding through

the limits of an Ohio city--mile after mile to deep,

shaded ravines, the walls softened and beautified by a

dainty curtain of evergreen hemlock sprays; ferns and

mosses and green liverworts decorating the cliff-faces;

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and, at the bottom, one of the prettiest rippling streams

which one is privileged to see--and you have an idea of

the beauty of Mill Creek Park.

"The dark brown sandstone belongs to the Massillon

Formation and the forces of nature have sculptured it

into seamed and weathered cliffs the like of which are

found in but a few restricted localities in Ohio. The

rugged bluffs which border the stream are honey-

combed with many niches and crannies which provide a

grateful haven for a host of rare interesting cliff-

dwelling plants.

"The gorge is flanked by row upon row of beautiful

hemlock trees, in my opinion, the loveliest of all Ohio

species of evergreen. Tall and straight, the spars

stretch up, graceful and symmetrical, from roots which

often find a footing in the crevices in the side of the

cliff. As for the foliage, what could be more delicate

than the lacelike tracery of hemlock boughs? Beneath

the hemlock there is an undergrowth of mountain maple,

evergreen American yew, trailing arbutus and a dozen

other rare and attractive wild plants and shrubs. And,

mind you, all of this within the city limits of Youngs-

town!"

The Park, in brief, is a gorge, and its environments:

a picturesque stream coursing through its center, hav-

ing fine cascades and waterfalls, cliffs and bluffs upon

each side of from sixty to over a hundred feet in height

clothed with sylva and flora exceedingly rich in variety

and beauty.-

In a direct line the Park is two and one-fourth miles

in length. Its width varies from a few hundred feet at

places where the gorge is narrow to a half, three-

fourths and in one instance over a mile, where it includes

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Bear Creek and its enchanting surroundings. The

windings of Mill Creek make the Park seem much longer

than it really is; the main driveways follow the banks or

bluffs of the main stream upon each side and are con-

nected by a bridge across the gorge, where most remote

from the city, ninety feet in height.

The length of these drives is twenty miles; thirteen

and three-fourths miles of gravel roads; four and three-

fourths miles of macadam; one and one-half miles of

dirt roads; twelve miles of foot trails and seven miles

bridle paths in the Park. There are interesting cross-

drives completed of two and one-fourth miles in length.

There are eleven handsome, durable bridges within

the park limits. Where the drives are necessarily

upon the bluffs, foot-paths have been made along

the banks of the main stream on each side, and fine

vistas have also been opened from good viewpoints

along both drive-ways and foot-paths. Sometimes the

bluffs gracefully recede from the stream for consider-

able distances, leaving stretches of open green valleys;

then again they boldly return to its banks, and to the

eye seem to shut off its passage. There are meadows,

lakes, islands, swift-running streams, waterfalls, cliffs,

natural grottos, and wooded hills of unending variety

and interest. To the stranger who visits Mill Creek

Park there is a pleasant surprise always, and to the resi-

dent of Youngstown who is somewhat familiar with its

more prominent features there is always something new.

The face of nature changes there, as the seasons come

and go, in forms and pictures of wondrous beauty.

Mill Creek Park is a place that never disappoints an

intelligent, appreciative visitor.

This Park is naturally well drained and abounds with

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ample shade, as well as excellent springs and pure clear

water, convenient to all its parts. It adjoins the city

on the west or windward side insuring pure air from the

country for the refreshment of visitors while at the Park,

and in a measure preserving and passing to the city

generally, better air at all times than would have been

the case had this large territory been occupied for resi-

dence or manufacturing purposes.    The benefits to

health that will result from its establishment and preser-

vation are incalculable.

Add to this the refreshing charm of its grand

natural scenery and Mill Creek Park takes rank at once

as one of the most valuable park properties in America.

 

 

POPULAR SUPPORT AND LEADERSHIP

An enterprise calling for a generous manifestation

of public spirit requires popular support and enthu-

siastic leadership. Mill Creek Park has had both. No

one man achieved it, of course, nor was it achieved

without enthusiastic, persistent, efficient leadership. Of

this the evidence is so abundant and conclusive that there

is no news in this statement for the good people of

Youngstown. We reproduce some of the testimonials

for the inspiration that they may carry to other commu-

nities and the knowledge that they may bear to tourists

that Ohio has within her borders one of the largest and

most attractive municipal parks within the United

States.

The late Joseph Butler, capitalist and public-spirited

citizen of Youngstown, who presented that city with her

beautiful art gallery, was in the later years of his life

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the editor of a History of Youngstown and Mahoning

County.   In that history we find the following account

of "Mill Creek Park."

Youngstown has five parks that range in area from twenty-

two acres upwards, but among these Mill Creek Park takes

precedence.

Back in the summer of 1797, but a few weeks after the set-

tlement that was to become the City of Youngstown was first

located, two youthful members of the pioneer Youngstown party

threaded their way up the valley of a creek and through a mag-

nificent gorge to the beautiful waterfall that was later to become

known as Lanterman's Falls. Probably venturesome white men

had visited the valley even before that summer, but it was almost

a century after Youngstown's founding before there was any

movement to dedicate this spot for park purposes.

The originator of this movement, the "Father of Mill Creek

Park," was Volney Rogers, attorney, but recently deceased.

Struck by the apparent beauty of this place, Mr. Rogers decided

to become better acquainted with it, and on a summer day in

1890, explored the valley on horseback. As there was neither

road, trail or even footpath he was forced to ride much of the

way in the bed of Mill Creek, but made the journey from the

mouth of the creek to Lanterman's Falls. Later, while engaged

in professional work for the public Mr. Rogers spent two months

in the vicinity of the park and in morning and evening walks

through the gorge and along the hills became more enamored with

the spot and conceived the project of preserving this spot for all

time for the public as a great breathing-place. It was a work

that had to be done at the time as the trees were rapidly being

stripped from Mahoning County lands and the hillsides blasted

away by quarrymen.

On his own initiative Mr. Rogers secured private contracts

with 154 of the 196 persons interested in the ownership of this

property. He then prepared, and presented to the State Legis-

lature, a bill providing for a township park commission of three

members and, by personal calls on influential citizens created sen-

timent that resulted in the passage of the "Township Park Im-

provement Act."   The Mill Creek Valley lay some distance

outside the city limits of Youngstown as fixed at that time.

In the movement to issue bonds for park improvement Mr.

Rogers again assumed the leadership, setting an example by

taking $25,000 worth of these bonds himself. The options that

Mr. Rogers had obtained were then turned over to the park board,

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and land that could not be purchased outright was appropriated.

For Mr. Rogers there was much voluntary expense and no re-

muneration, nor would he have considered any.

Improvement of the park property was begun in 1892, the

park bill having been passed early in 1891, and in 1893-94 this

work received considerable impetus. Work for betterment has

gone on since, and not always without opposition, for there have

been proposals for "improvements" that would mean actual ruin

to the park. In fact Mr. Rogers was forced to defend the park

to his death from encroachments of material-minded persons.

* * * * *

The park is still managed by a special board of commissioners,

although it is now wholly within the city, the present board mem-

bers being C. S. Robinson, W. C. Stitt and Dr. H. D.. Morgan.

Mr. Rogers' great work was recognized by the movement that

began before his death for a Rogers' memorial statue to be placed

near the Falls Avenue entrance, a project that will soon be real-

ized.

Charles Edwin Hopkins in his attractive Ohio the

Beautiful and Historic, 1931, presents the following

description of Mill Creek Park:

 

Volney Rogers of Youngstown, another of the steel towns

of the Western Reserve, is dead, but an entire city reveres the

memory of the eccentric bachelor, who loved birds, rocks, flowers,

and waterfalls, and in the words of the bard, found

". . . tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,

Sermons in stones, and good in everything."

Rogers loved a beautiful stream--a little tributary of the

Mahoning River--named by some well-meaning utilitarian Mill

Creek. Thirty years ago, when a nature lover was regarded as a

mild variety of lunatic, especially in a city as highly industrialized

as Youngstown, Rogers rode through the gorge of Mill Creek on

horseback. He rode three miles up the Creek. It was a

little exploration expedition of his own into a realm of undis-

covered wild beauty near home. There are such places near

everyone's home. But if Volney Rogers had not formed an

unselfish idea, his particular discovery would have been interest-

ing to no one else. He wished to share the beauty of Mill Creek

Gorge with others and to preserve it for posterity. So he under-

took an unusual task. He knew that in America stream valleys

near industrial centers usually become convenient dumping-

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek      161

 

grounds for industrial waste and sewage, and that often our

fairest outlooks are cluttered with eye-assaulting importunities

because there "is no law against" boorish publicity. He began a

movement to effect the preservation of the Mill Creek Gorge.

Youngstown was not large enough at the time to encompass

all of Mill Creek. The stream extended into the county. That

meant that county authorities had to be enlisted. Finally, the

State Legislature had to be induced to pass an enabling act to

provide for a township park. That was not all. Rogers had to

persuade 196 land-owners--some of them hostile to the idea--to

sell. And when bonds were issued to provide the funds to make

the purchases, Volney Rogers, by no means a man of wealth,

bought $25,000 worth of the bonds and requested that his be the

last to be redeemed.

Mill Creek Park is about six miles in length and contains

*1,200 acres to which additions are being made from time to

time. That is a considerable park area for a small city like

Youngstown. There are five cascades and waterfalls in the gorge,

sandstone cliffs from sixty to one hundred feet in height, native

evergreens--hemlocks--growing in their natural settings, en-

chanting trails, automobile highways. Preferably, one should visit

Mill Creek Park on foot, for the automobile does: not take one to

its nooks and dells; one should wander along the bluff-trails,

Lover's Lane, under Umbrella Rock, and rest on the rustic chairs

beneath the cool natural roof of Shelter Cave. Automobile road-

ways encircle the entire gorge from the Mahoning River, to Lan-

terman's Falls and return. It is a twelve-mile circle from the

public square of Youngstown by way of Mahoning Avenue to

the west side of the gorge. Leaving the park by the Falls Avenue

entrance, one passes the statue of eccentric Volney Rogers, done

in bronze, with his ubiquitous umbrella tied in the middle--the

man who loved birds, flowers and little children.

One of the most beautiful parks in the United States is this

one in Youngstown. Artifice has made its charms accessible, but

unsullied nature is its real asset.

In 1904 Volney Rogers published a neatly printed

and bound volume of one hundred and twenty pages

entitled, A  Partial Description of Mill Creek Park,

Youngstown, Ohio, with some Papers, Reports and Laws

 

Connected with Park Work. As an example of his

* Now 1375 acres.

Vol. XLIII--11

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162       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

style and his clear and logical thinking on the subject

close to his heart, we reproduce in full his chapter on

 

PARKS AND OPEN SPACES

The first and most important thing in park work is to secure

desirable land and an abundance of it for park purposes. Unless

this is done, the municipality suffers for parks, or extravagant

sums have to be paid for land to provide them. The result of

such neglect is, that the park system, seldom if ever, becomes what

it should be.

Every city should have numerous open spaces distributed

throughout its area, and particularly in thickly populated districts;

so that there may be a convenient oasis, or green place for pure

air, bright sunshine, and grateful shade for daily rest and recre-

ation open to all.

In addition to this there should be public playgrounds for

children in charge of a keeper, who would enforce good morals

and proper behavior. These are needs in civic communities that

large parks cannot supply.

Public parks proper, when the cost of land is taken into ac-

count should be at various convenient points in the outer portions

of the city, and be sufficiently large in area to permit any in-

habitant any day to find an inviting secluded place within their

borders.

All else being equal, the preferable park location would be

in the direction from which the prevailing winds come to the

city, thus insuring the best atmosphere obtainable.

A beautiful lake; a grand sweeping river; a gorge or valley,

with chattering brooklets, forest-crowned bluffs, and shaded ra-

vines; a green expansive lawn or meadow stretching from stream

or lake to wooded hills, and in the hazy distance a forest-covered

mountain touching the sky, are some of the ideals that should be

sought for in the locations and improvements of public parks.

Broad, yet simple, and sublime in their simplicity are nature's

best models.

Roads and paths are only convenient ways for reaching such

creations. They should be practically hidden, following the

shaded shore of a lake, the bank of a stream, the foot or brow

of a hill or terrace, the border of a lawn, meadow or forest, taking

advantage of natural opportunities, if they, exist, or, when neces-

sary, creating opportunities which may appear natural.

A park must be beautiful. Good drainage, an abundance

of pure drinking water and shade are absolutely necessary; for,

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek             163

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during the hot months of July and August the people will flee

from the city to the parks, sometimes almost en masse: at least,

that is our experience in Youngstown, showing the great need

of such accommodations.

But I cannot go into detail. The method of beautifying pub-

lic parks cannot be prescribed by rule, for the simple reason that

what would be very appropriate and harmonious in one, would

be very inappropriate and inharmonious in another. Principles,

good judgment and taste, and their correct application in each

case must be sought for.

The advantages of public parks are many; but the greatest

is their healthful, healing influence, whether applied to the wearied

minds and bodies of those whose places of daily life and toil are

surrounded or affected by monotonous, heated, brick walls and

stone pavements, or to their soothing, helpful effects upon weak,

nervous and unhappy invalids and delicate children.

To maintain the health of the former, and restore to health

the latter, are the paramount purposes of parks. Cool, inviting

shades and clear, still, or whispering waters; pure air, bright

sunshine, and pastoral scenery are not only Nature's healing

balms for bodily and mental afflictions, but they lead the appre-

ciative mind and heart gently on, step by step, to the one great

lovable Truth.

Wishing to visit a large park, do not try to see it all in one

day--reserve something for future enjoyment, and save weary

feet. Select some secluded portion of it for that day, and spend

the time there with friends, books or innocent amusements. Music

and boating are appropriate pastimes. Play with the children;

teach them the names and uses of Nature's gifts about them;

point them to the trees, birds, herbage, and flowers; tell them the

name and habits of each, and you will have sown the seeds for

something ennobling in their hearts that will never be forgotten.

There should be a walk and a talk with friends or children before

the day is done, and the ladies should join in the exercise.

There is an editorial in Garden and Forest, written a number

of years ago, so apt in this connection that I quote a portion of

it, as follows:

"It would be far better for our health as a people, if the love

of exercise were more general, and it would be better for our

intellectual and spiritual development, if the love of Nature were

more general. The love of walking and the love of Nature are

more intimately connected than most persons realize. Only he

who goes abroad on foot can really learn to know the beauties

of Nature, because only he lives, for the time being with those

beauties, passing among them, not beside them, and seeing the

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek        165

 

smaller, as well as the greater, the more intimate and secret as

well as those which are freely displayed.

"To contemplate a beautiful prospect from a veranda, or

to traverse a charming country in a carriage, means much to

him who has eyes to see; but, to spend an hour in the woods,

or to follow on foot the course of a winding river, means vastly

more; and while a beautiful outlook from one's home, or a chance

to drive and ride at will, are luxuries of the rich, the foot-path

is free to the poorest."

Adopting the above quotation as part of my argument, I con-

clude that the foot-path in the park should be made as charming

as it can be. If so made and kept, it will help to induce those

who ride and drive to take needful exercise and recreation on

foot; and will be a luxury always open to everyone. I will add

this caution, however, to those not accustomed to extended ram-

bles, and hurry on to the conclusion: Never walk until you become

weary; let your walks be short and slow at first; increase their

length gradually each day or week, and you will be surprised to

find how invigorating and enjoyable they are. Health writers

tell us that Americans, and especially American women, walk

too little. They also tell us that naturally women can endure

more fatigue on foot than men. On a long, wearisome journey

under equal circumstances, woman is the invariable victor; she

has more tenacity of life, and more powers of endurance as a

pedestrian.

Thus Nature teaches that she should exercise those powers,

not to excess, but in moderation; and the park by-ways, foot-

paths, and their surroundings, and her natural love of the beau-

tiful, should induce her to take needful walking exercise, espe-

cially when the reward is health, long life, and the retention of

youth.

A little acquaintance with geology, botany, and the birds, will

add greatly to the enjoyment of outdoor exercise, whether walk-

ing, riding, or driving.

As to cultivating taste for beautifying door-yards, much can

be accomplished by offering prizes, and allowing all who wish

to do so to enter their yards in the list for competition.

Education and agitation are necessary to properly utilize and

beautify our public streets. If we can create a taste for beautiful

door-yards, beautiful streets will follow.

The planting and care of trees, and the turf on public grounds,

should be confined to a competent city forester and gardener,

and no one should be permitted to plant trees or touch them on

public streets, or make or interfere with public lawns or turf,

except by the forester and gardener's direction and authority.

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Parks are necessarily under the charge of public officials, and

I have heretofore, in a very general way, indicated some ideals

that should govern them in their work. If public parks are

properly designed, improved, and maintained, the best of land-

scape and garden work will be exhibited, and in addition to their

paramount functions, they will help to educate the tastes and

desires of the people as to their home grounds.

For beauty in parks, the park officials must be looked to;

but, how to utilize a park is mainly a lesson to be learned by

the people.

The park officials can help by preventing clamorous noise

and excitement within the park limits. Noise and excitement

are some of the very conditions in crowded cities that public

parks are intended to alleviate. They can provide necessary

buildings for shelter and refreshments, tables in groves or other

suitable places, for meals in the open air as well as grounds for

innocent amusements. They can prohibit all money-making

schemes within the park borders. They can, and should, pro-

vide music at times for the entertainment of visitors; but, bear

in mind, always, that they seldom have the money, especially in

small cities, to pay for everything needful at once, and that it

takes long, long years of unremitting toil and labor by somebody,

to secure the land, pay for, and suitably improve it. Such work

is not for today only, but for the ages, and must be done with

that end in view.

If thus we make our cities out of doors, healthful, comfortable

and beautiful, city residents will live more in the open air, to

their great benefit; they will learn to go to public parks and open

spaces, not for excitement and unrest, but for peace, quiet, and

rest--in a word, for recreation, that is, to be recreated, so that

they may return to their homes new men, and new women,

stronger, healthier and happier, and better equipped for the per-

formance of life's duties.

 

In the years following the issue of his book he learned

that it was frequently necessary to appeal to the people

of Youngstown to protect the park against those who in

their efforts to use it for commercial ends would ruin it

for park purposes. His appeal for vigilance won the

victory for the greater good of the years to come, and

the plaudits of those who knew of his ceaseless and un-

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selfish work of almost thirty years that this remarkable

achievement might live to bless the generations yet to be.

That his life-work was appreciated is further attested

by the tributes called forth at the time of his death,

December 3, 1919.

On the day following the Youngstown Vindicator

published the following editorial:

 

VOLNEY ROGERS

Volney Rogers, who died yesterday in Canon City, Colorado,

where he had gone on account of failing health, will be justly

remembered in Youngstown longer than any other man of his

generation, because he rendered a greater service to this com-

munity than any other man of his time.

Born in Columbiana County he came to Youngstown, an

educated lawyer, to practice his profession, and while waiting as

most lawyers must, for business to come to him, lover of nature

that he was, he found health and happiness in long walks through

Mill Creek Valley. Wild and remote it then was, but full of

beauty and charm for the young man. In these walks he became

so impressed with the possibilities of making a park of the pic-

turesque ravine, and with the necessity, soon to come for such a

breathing-place for the growing city, that more than thirty years

ago he formed the purpose of procuring at least a part of it for

the public, and went actively to work to obtain it.

Much of what is now the park was waste land and easily

obtainable, but a large part of it was commercially valuable,

chiefly for stone quarries, the working of which involved the

destruction for park purposes of much more land than was ac-

tually so used. It was apparent, even then, that if the natural

beauty and usefulness of the gorge were to be preserved it must

be promptly purchased. But no money was available and there

was no public sentiment in favor of such a purchase, few men

having the vision to see, as Mr. Rogers saw, the community

value of such a park in future years.

Most men without fortune, as Mr. Rogers was, would have

thought it impossible to interest the public in such an enterprise

and would have turned away to their personal pursuits, but with

the enthusiasm of youth and inspired by a high purpose, he

commenced, almost alone, an agitation for the creating of an

appreciation of the necessity for such a park and the unsurpassed

possibilities which thus lay at our door, created by nature for

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek        169

the purpose. He talked the subject and he wrote of it, enlisting

here the interest of one man and there that of another, until

there gradually gathered about him a group of men, enthusiastic

and influential, who pressed the project to solution. But Mr.

Rogers continued to be so certainly the animating spirit of the

movement through all the years, that it must be said that to

his efforts it is, that this community owes the possession of our

present beautiful Mill Creek Park--as beautiful a city park, it is

no exaggeration to say, as there is in the country.

But the acquiring of the property in the wild gorge did not

make a park of it, and the service of Mr. Rogers in developing

it into the place of beauty which it now is, was quite as unusual

and certainly as valuable as that which he rendered in acquiring

the land. He sought to preserve the natural beauties of the place.

But not content with this, he entered upon extensive studies

in landscape architecture and gardening, so that he might

be able competently to judge of plans for future development.

Thus the park and its welfare became the passion of Mr. Rogers'

later years, and the adoption of the plan for carrying a sewer

through, it, to the detriment, as he believed it would prove to be,

of the fine forest trees and of the springs of pure water, was a

great grief to him.

Rarely has a man given himself to a public service as Mr.

Rogers gave himself to the care and development of this beau-

tiful park for many years. He sacrificed his time and money

and professional opportunities to it, finding his reward wholly

in the health and happiness and delight which is brought into

the lives of countless thousands every year. It was first in his

thoughts always, to such an extent, that in his last days his

chief anxiety was from the fear that it might pass into the custody

of unsympathetic and uninformed trustees who from lack of ap-

preciation of its practical and esthetic community uses would

permit it to fall into neglect or decay. It is impossible, however,

to think that this community, fully realizing, as it does, that Mill

Creek Park is its most priceless possession, now and for all

time to come, can fail to preserve it by carrying forward its

development and care through the future years, in a manner

worthy of the purposes and aims of its discoverer and creator

now gone from us.

It has been suggested that the name of the park be changed

from Mill Creek, to Rogers Park and sometime since it was pro-

posed that a statue or fountain or other appropriate memorial

be erected in the park to Mr. Rogers, while he lived and could

know of it, in token of our gratitude for the service which

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170        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

he rendered to us all, but war activities diverted attention and

nothing was done.

Now, however, this community debt has fallen definitely due,

and it is to be hoped that something of the kind will be done

to give an expression, at once to the esteem in which we hold

the service of this devoted man and also as an enduring ex-

pression of the desire and purpose of this community that the

ideas and ideals of Mr. Rogers, of which we have such a full

expression, should rule in the future care and development of

the park.

If the consent of relatives can be procured, how fitting it

would be if the body of Mr. Rogers could be buried in the

beautiful park which he created for us--on some sunny slope

where the first flowers and birds of spring would come--for

unless our hopes and dreams be all in vain it is to this scene

of his great earthly happiness and achievement that the spirit

of the departed will oftenest return.

On December 5 the Youngstown Telegram said

editorially:

A FITTING MEMORIAL

To speak a good word in memory of the late Volney Rogers

is almost unnecessary, much as the tribute is deserved. Probably

there is no one in Youngstown who does not know what the

city and its individuals alike owe him, for his thirty years' work

in the interests of the great Mill Creek Park if for no other

reason. Eulogies, therefore, would be be merely trite.

In the instance of Mr. Rogers, the unusual happened when

his work was recognized and a memorial planned in his honor

even before his death. It is a work that has not been completed

yet, but its success was long ago assured.

Yet there is another form of memorial that might be erected

to Mr. Rogers that would be more fitting even than one of brass

or stone. It will cost nothing, but will be worth more than a

million-dollar arch or statue. We refer to the preservation of

Mill Creek Park.

Volney Rogers might have made this place a great personal

asset. Realizing its possibilities first he might have capitalized

these. Instead he worked, almost alone, to dedicate this great

outdoor place to the people of Youngstown. For many years

past his work has been threatened.

Just now a sewer is being driven through the park with little

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek        171

 

regard to saving the beauty of the place. Hungry real estate

dealers are trying to capitalize it. There is a growing belief that

the park was meant as a dumping-place for ashes, tin cans and

garbage and only unceasing vigilance can prevent this desecra-

tion. To exercise this vigilance is the best payment we could

make Volney Rogers--public benefactor.

In the issue of the Telegram of December 4 appeared

the informing and tender news tribute from which we

quote as follows:

Volney Rogers, founder of Mill Creek Park, and whom the

city had been planning to honor with a memorial while he still

lived, died in Canon City, Colorado, Thursday morning. A

message announcing his death was received by his brother, Bruce

Rogers, Thursday afternoon.

Mr. Rogers left Youngstown last February to tour the western

national parks and wonder places until peace was declared in

Europe, after which he planned to spend several years in traveling

to the unfrequented parts of the world. Shortly after reaching

Canon City he was taken ill with influenza which left him in a

somewhat weakened condition. On a trip to the Royal Gorge,

soon afterward, he was exposed for some time to the rigors

of a severe storm and contracted a cold which further undermined

his health. From then up to the time of his death his health

failed rapidly. Some weeks ago, his brother, Dr. Lycurgus Rog-

ers of Negley, was called to attend him and was with him until

the end came.

An idea of the methodical character of the man is indicated

in the last letter he wrote to his brother, and which was received

the same day the message came announcing his death. In the

letter he wrote: "Unless there is some change you will soon have

a brother to bury--better go to Orr's undertaking establishment

and learn what should be done at this end of the line. When I

am finished write to Curg (Lycurgus, the brother who was

with him) what he should do. This is a sad message to send,

but I have thought it best for you to know everything. I don't

want any of you to worry about me. We all have to go some

time."

Volney Rogers was born* near East Palestine on a farm which

was bought by his grandfather who personally obtained the grant

by walking to the state capital, then at Chillicothe, and bargaining

for it with the government officials. The farm is still owned by

* Date of birth, December 1, 1846.

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172        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

a member of the family. The village of Rogers is named after

a branch of the family.

After attending the county grade and high schools he taught

for a time, studying telegraphy in the meantime. As telegrapher

Mr. Rogers was employed during the construction of a telegraph

line on the old turnpike from Pittsburgh to Baltimore. When

that work was completed he was given the office of operator

for the State Legislature at the Pennsylvania capitol building

in Harrisburg. Four years as telegraph operator in Waynesboro

followed, during which Mr. Rogers took up the study of law. He

returned to Ohio to complete his studies under his brother Disney,

was admitted to the bar, and opened an office in the old Fowler-

Stambaugh block. As Youngstown city solicitor he codified the

city ordinances.

It was in 1890 that he saw the possibilities of developing

the Mill Creek valley into a public park. Sawmills had been

established on both sides of the gorge and were rapidly denuding

the hills of timber when Mr. Rogers obtained options on much

of the property, prepared a,bill known as the "Township Park

Improvement Law," obtained the legislation, and then, when he

had attained his objective, turned the whole proposition over to

the city at actual cost.

With the assistance of his brother, Bruce, who has always

been close to him in park matters, Volney Rogers then began the

improvement of the valley and carried on the work which caused

Mill Creek Park to be recognized as one of the finest scenic parks

in America.

The first contest in connection, with the park came when the

city proposed to utilize the Mill Creek basin for a water supply.

Volney and Bruce Rogers made marks on the trees and build-

ings in the park showing where the proposed water-line would

reach, and this immediately won widespread sentiment against and

defeated the move. Fearing a sewer through the park would

spoil the springs and otherwise cause damages, and taking the

position that it could be placed outside the park, Mr. Rogers

fought this project through all the courts. His concern about

the welfare of the park was the outstanding characteristic of his

life. Through all the years he gave his services in a legal ca-

pacity without remuneration, often neglecting his own practice

to devote his attention to park affairs.

For many years he fed the birds that came to his home in

the park, and established a friendship with the wild creatures

that gave him the greatest pleasure. Mr. Rogers was a member

of the American Civic Association and took an active part in

the campaign to save Niagara Falls from water power companies

that threatened the beauty of the natural wonder some years ago.

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek        173

Mr. Rogers was the author of a history of Mill Creek Park,

an authority on park affairs whose advice was sought by experts

in all parts of the country, and a nature student who took delight

in giving others the benefit of his knowledge and experience. He

was a trustee of Tod Memorial cemetery and was a member of

the First Presbyterian church.

The following sisters and brothers survive: Miss Minnie J.

Randall, Negley; Atty. Dio Rogers, Steubenville; Dr. Lycurgus

Rogers, Negley; Bruce Rogers, Youngstown; Dr. Z. L. Rogers,

East Palestine, and John Rogers of Poland. The late Judge Dis-

ney Rogers was a brother.

The body will be brought to Youngstown for burial.

Dozens of messages of regret over the death of Volney Rog-

ers, Wednesday, were sent to Secretary Fred A. La Belle of the

Chamber of Commerce and members of the Volney Rogers me-

morial committee, following receipt of the news in this city.

Recently representatives of the Chamber of Commerce re-

turned from Chicago where the final clay model from which the

bronze statue of Rogers will be cast had been prepared by Sculp-

tor Frederick Hibbard, as shown in the accompanying photograph.

The statue proper will be ten feet in height and will be

mounted on a base of polished granite which will give a total

height of 18 feet. It is expected that the statue will be unveiled

probably next April and changes in the driveway and grading

to conform with the plans of the monument are under way under

the direction of the Mill Creek park commission.

Volney Rogers was buried in Tod' Memorial Cemetery, at

his request by the side of his brother Judge Disney Rogers with

whom he was associated in the practice of the law many years.

As a fitting conclusion to this series of tributes we

include the following from a recent appreciation by Ed-

ward Thomas:

 

In the park there is a monument to a modest lawyer--yes,

there are such! And if ever a man deserved a monument, it is

Volney Rogers. He is known as the father of Mill Creek Park.

It was he who first realized the value of the tract to the com-

munity. And it was he who fought a long and eventually a suc-

cessful fight, overcoming the greatest of all obstacles--the apathy

of the people. Because of his foresight and persistence and de-

termination, Mill Creek Park is what it is today, instead of being

a dump for rubbish and tin cans. I wish that every Ohio city

had a Volney Rogers--and a Mill Creek Park!

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INTRODUCTION TO DEDICATION OF MILL CREEK SPRING

Volney Rogers came to Youngstown in 1871 as a

young lawyer and often walked up the Mill Creek

stream. In 1890, he rode on horseback from the mouth

of the stream where it enters the Mahoning River to

the present falls at Lanterman's Mill. He had to ride

most of the way in the bed of the river and dodge the

overhanging branches. On that ride the vision came

to him of preserving this beautiful ravine as a perpetual

park for Youngstown. That night he wrote Bruce

Rogers saying that he would attend to the legal end,

the securing of options, etc., if his brother would come

to Youngstown to help put the idea over. It was a year

later before Bruce Rogers could give up his former

work, but in 1891 both brothers were united to pull to-

gether as a team to secure this dream for Youngstown.

Thereafter for twenty-seven years, Volney Rogers

looked after the legal and the financial end of the ven-

ture, while Bruce Rogers was in charge of the develop-

ments.

The location of the source of Mill Creek is largely

the work of the Youngstown Chapter of the American

Nature-Study Club led by its president, Bruce Rogers.

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek        175

DEDICATION OF MILL CREEK SPRING

In the Youngstown Vindicator of October 1, 1933,

appeared an interesting illustrated news story of the dis-

covery of the source of Mill Creek which flows through

the gorge in Youngstown, now included in Mill Creek

Park, unsurpassed in natural beauty and appropriate

and artistic development. A prominent feature of the

illustration was the home of William N. Cope, back of

which is located the spring from which Mill Creek issues.

This announcement carries also an account of the pro-

gram for dedication of the spring from which we quote

as follows:

 

A spring on the William Cope farm about three miles south

of Columbiana, will receive waters from the melting snows of

Mount Rainier, the Suwanee River, the Pacific Ocean, Indian

River and Crater Lake, next Saturday, in token of the spring

being the source of Mill Creek -- which in its course to the

Mahoning River runs through one of the most beautiful scenic

parks in America

As the water from the Suwanee and these other distant places

mingles with the cool spring-water and runs around crocks of

cream and milk and butter in the spring-house and then down the

front yard lane to a pool where horses and cows stop to refresh

themselves on warm summer days, a great crowd of nature

lovers will pause in reverence.

Led by the Youngstown Chapter of the American Nature-

Study Club, a host of prominent local folks will make a pilgrim-

age on that day, not only to the spring where Mill Creek begins,

but to the boyhood home of the late Volney Rogers and Bruce

Rogers, co-founders of Mill Creek Park.

A program will be held at the Rogers homestead, east of

Rogers. Bruce Rogers will tell boyhood recollections and stories

of the Rogers home and of Volney Rogers, who spent a con-

siderable portion of his life building a park for the city of

Youngstown.

Following this, a caravan of autos will leave for the spring

on the Cope farm, where a short celebration will be held. C. B.

Galbreath, state historian and secretary of the Ohio Archaeological

and Historical Society, will be the principal speaker.

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176        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

At the spring, the bottles containing the waters from distant

lakes, rivers and oceans will be emptied, christening the cool

spring waters.

The Nature Club spent some time procuring the water. One

bottle is filled with the cold water from the Bay of Fundy off

Nova Scotia; others with the warm water of the Suwanee; the

melted water from a glacier on the flanks of Mount Rainier;

from Puget Sound and the Pacific; Crater Lake and Indian

River--all famed in story and legend.

But let us follow these waters as they flow down Mill Creek

from the Cope farm They will go east west, north and south in

their meanderings through cow and sheep pastures and along

fertile cultivated fields They will flow in a question mark around

Columbiana and up north through Mahoning County until they

enter the gorge of Mill Creek above Lake Newport.

 

MEANDERING COURSE.

Entering Lake Newport the waters will find different fish

from the alligators which infest the Suwanee or the holy mackerels

of the Bay of Fundy. Before reaching the Mahoning River, the

waters will pass through two more lakes, Cohasset and Glacier.

And what a surprise the clean waters of Crater Lake and

Indian River will have when they enter the Mahoning. They'll

mingle with sewage and mill acids that few waters ever have the

misfortune to come in contact with. And they'll be lucky if they

escape without being taken in by some mill and shot out to cool

red hot bars--and disappear in steam.

Some of the waters will run the gantlet of the cities along the

Valley through New Castle, Beaver Falls and to the Ohio River

at Rochester. There, they will mingle with waters from Pitts-

burgh and the upper reaches of the Ohio and then flow on over

dam after dam by Cincinnati and on to Cairo to join with the

mighty waters of the Mississippi.

But the crowd at the spring will have departed long before

the water does all this traveling, and let's stop awhile and see

what they plan at the spring and the Rogers homestead.

 

THE CARAVAN ROUTE.

In the first place, many would like to know how to get to the

Rogers homestead. The caravan will leave the Reuben McMillan

Free Library at 1 p. m. It will go to North Lima and past Pine

Lake and take the second paved highway to the left, the Colum-

biana-Waterford Road. Passing through New Waterford, the

caravan will go straight through Peace Valley, turning right after

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek           177

Vol. XLIII--12

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178        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

going by the lake. Then after passing the first crossroads, it will

take the right road at the forks which is located on the farm of

Frank Bye. One must drive through his farm to reach the

Rogers homestead.

After the short program of tribute at the homestead the

caravan will go to Rogers, turn right through East Fairfield to

Middleton and turn left and after about two miles cross an over-

head bridge above a trolley. A mile further a long lane leads off

to the left to the Cope homestead.

The program at the spring will include a speech by Paul

Kuegle telling of his boyhood much of which was spent playing

along Mill Creek. Kuegle also will orient the position and flow

of the creek in the minds of listeners.

Bruce Rogers will tell how the spring, the source of Mill

Creek, was located. He also will read a dedicatory poem which

he has written. Christening of the spring by the foreign waters

will follow.

Mr. Cope, the owner of the place, will present F. E. Hughes,

superintendent of Mill Creek Park, with a vial of water from

the spring. Charles Leedy will introduce the principal speaker.

Saturday, October 7, 1933, dawned fair and the tem-

perature was delightful. At 1 o'clock in the afternoon

the caravan of automobiles set out from Youngstown

according to program and proceeded by the route de-

scribed to the Rogers homestead. As the party moved

southward the country became more broken and pictur-

esque. One can understand why a family of sturdy

children who grew up to manhood and womanhood in

association with this rugged and beautiful country be-

came nature lovers and in after years found pleasure in

 

The hills

Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun; the vales

Stretching in pensive quietness between;

The venerable woods,--

And in after years longed for a return of the scenes

of childhood, the wide and open sky, rippling rills and

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek          179

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180       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

waterfalls, the majesty and melody of Nature that can

measurably be restored in such a realm as Mill Creek

Park.

At the Rogers homestead was found a large barn

more than one hundred years old, a sturdy stone farm-

house dating back from the year 1826, when it was built

to replace a log structure which had been blown down

in a terrific storm. The stone farmhouse with its mas-

sive walls unbroken bids defiance to the elements for at

least another century.

Here Bruce Rogers led the program in interesting

reminiscences of the olden time after which the "cara-

van" moved on to the village of Rogers north through

the villages of East Fairfield and Middleton, to the farm-

house of William N. Cope which was found to be

neither "little" nor "old" but delightfully modern and

in every way a fitting source for the stream which has

done so much to make the great Mill Creek Park.

The program of the afternoon opened with an ad-

dress on "A Quest for the Spring" and "A Poem on the

Christening" by Bruce Rogers, who spoke as follows:

 

The quest for the headwaters of Mill Creek has been pursued

somewhat fitfully for a long time. Some thirty years ago my

brother Volney, in high top-boots, one winter's day, in a deep

snow sought it from the river's mouth at the Mahoning all the

way to this locality, but his findings were not conclusive. Some

twelve years ago Mr. John H. Chase and his daughter Catherine,

in a series of walks, covered the same ground with the same

result. It now being determined that the spring was to be found

near this place, a month ago Mr. Chase and Mr. Paul Kuegle

undertook to locate it by following the trail of the low ground,

passing almost entirely around the spot where we are standing.

A few weeks ago Mr. Chase took me to see a pool just west of

• 44
 

Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek         181

 

the Centralized School as a possible head, but we were not satis-

fied; and then together we began a two-day's methodical search,

ending in the discovering of this spring here on the farm of

Mr. William N. Cope.

There are several factors entering into the final determina-

tion of what constitutes the source of a stream. The relative

size of two streams at their confluence, the constancy of their

flow, and the general direction and extent of their course, all

must be considered. The ease with which this fine spring passes

all tests, places it at the headwaters, and as the chief source of

Mill Creek, and determines that all competitors are simply lateral

branches or tributaries in the ramifications of Mill Creek. This

is now so set down in the files of the Ohio Archaeological and

Historical Society.

 

A POEM ON THE CHRISTENING

ADAPTED FROM THE SONG OF HIAWATHA.

In the time of the great famine,

Failed the springs in all the forests;

Failed the waters in the meadows.

Till the weary people perished.

Then came walking thru' the region,

Gitche Manito, the mighty.

In His footsteps sprang the rivers;

Where He trod, the waters, rising,

Fed the hungry, famished people.

Then He stooped, and with His finger

Traced for them their winding pathway;

Traced He then the creek we honor,

Saying to it, run in this way;

Feed the forests and the meadows;

Leap the frowning, lofty ledges;

Water all the lovely valleys,

Till you sleep in the Mahoning.

In the heart of all the Nations;

In the name of the Great Spirit,

Gitche Manito, the mighty

Come we all to do thee honor;

Now to christen thee COHASSET.

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182        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

The following beautiful "Christening of the Spring,"

a poem in prose, written by Miss Rachel Stewart, was

then delivered by the author as follows:

 

Since the beginning of time, rivers have been a symbol of

the yearning for far places that marks the stay-at-home dreamer

and the traveler alike. The child who says, "Where does the

river go?" is akin to the explorers who have followed rivers up

to their sources and down to their mouths, till no land anywhere

remains undiscovered. Exploration, conquest, colonization, com-

merce, the shining thread of rivers runs through them all. And

as we view broad valleys and narrow canyons we cannot fail to

pay tribute to rivers as sculptors.

Today we gather to dedicate the very little river which has its

source at our feet, in loving gratitude for its service to us in

carving our beautiful park. We bring as a gift, waters from the

four corners of the land as a foretaste of those far places where

it will mingle with the rivers from which these waters come.

The Bay of Fundy, a glacier on the slopes of Mt. Rainier, Puget

Sound, the song-famed Suwanee River, Indian River in Florida,

the Great Salt Lake and the River Jordan all are here. As we

send them on their way, let us each one add in our hearts the

names of those other rivers which we know and love, or love even

though unknown. St. Lawrence, Yukon, Juniata, Greenbriar and

many, many more.

So little river, very dear little river, as you start on your long

journey from this green valley to join the waters of the world,

carry these alien drops with you to the ocean which is the final

destination of all rivers. Visit strange shores which we long to

see, mingle with rivers which we long to explore, do our adven-

turing for us.

Mr. William N. Cope, owner of the farm in the yard

of which the spring is located, then spoke as follows:

"As owner of the spring at the head waters of Mill Creek,

present to you, Sir, as Superintendent of the Park, a vial of wate

from this spring as a memorial of our dedication on October 7

1933."

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek           183

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184        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

Mr. F. Hughes, superintendent of Mill Creek Park,

responded as follows:

 

"As superintendent of the Park along the lower waters of

Mill Creek, I am glad to have this token from the birthplace of

the stream we love so dearly."

 

Paul Kuegle delivered an address and furnished the

following "Orientation" and "How to Get to the

Spring":

ORIENTATION

Mill Creek rises along a ridge two and one-half miles south

of Columbiana, Ohio; and flows northward seventeen and one-

half miles (air line) to its mouth at the Mahoning River.

The elevation of the spring at the Wm. N. Cope farm is

1,175 feet and Mill Creek falls 345 feet to the Mahoning River.

The creek drains a water shed area of approximately seventy-nine

square miles.

 

HOW TO GET THERE

From Columbiana take the Fairfield Road southward and

bear right on a narrow concrete road at a fork about three-fourths

of a mile south of the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks. Turn left

at Fairfield Township Centralized School. Go a quarter of a

mile to a gate on the right. A lane leads from the gate to Mr.

Wm. N. Cope's homestead, behind which is the spring

One hundred yards before reaching the above-mentioned

crossroad and again one hundred yards after turning east you

will cross a tiny stream, which is Mill Creek.

Mr. Charles A. Leedy, vice-president of the Youngs-

town Chapter of the American Nature-Study Club and

representative of the Youngstown Telegram introduced

Mr. C. B. Galbreath, secretary and editor of The Ohio

State Archaeological and Historical Society, who spoke

as follows:

Members of the Youngstown Chapter of the American

Nature-Study Club and Friends:

• 48
 

Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek        185

 

When invited to have a part in these exercises by our good

friend, Bruce Rogers, I could not see how in the midst of a very

busy period of my work, I could come; but when I realized that

this spring which is to be crowned today is in my home township

near the farm on which I was born and the scenes of my child-

hood that grow ever dearer with advancing years; and recalled

the reminiscent lesson in the old McGuffey Readers

"How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood

When fond recollection presents them to view;"

And that other lesson, "The Sailor Boy"--

"He dreamed of his home, of his dear native bowers,

Of pleasures that waited on life's merry morn,

While memory each scene gaily covered with flowers

And restored every rose but secreted the thorn"

When, as I say, these recollections thronged upon me I simply

could not refuse the kind invitation sent me.

I wish first of all to congratulate those responsible for this

celebration. The city of Youngstown and those interested in her

parks are to be congratulated upon the splendid service that they

have rendered. From this Mill Creek Spring issued the waters

that helped to make the site of beautiful Mill Creek Park that has

carried the fame of the city and the stream and the Rogers broth-

ers throughout our entire country.

The city, it is true, has other parks less extensive but greatly

to her credit. She has schools that are far-famed; churches, rep-

resenting many denominations; her public library, rendering an

excellent service, and her beautiful art gallery in which our late

friend, Joseph Butler, was so deeply and generously interested.

These, with beautiful Mill Creek Park, speak eloquently of the

expenditure of effort and wealth, not only by the distinguished

citizens of Youngstown but by the city itself. We sometimes think

of that city with its great manufacturies of steel and iron, working

in prosperous times by night and day, and increasing by leaps and

bounds in population and wealth, as a city devoted wholly to the

making of money. We should not forget, however, that institutions

for the comfort, happiness, instruction, innocent recreation and

moral advancement, which are developed without special refer-

ence to returns in money, add to the wealth of the community in

dollars and cents. Take from any city its schools, its churches, its

public libraries, its art galleries, its parks and institutions of

elevating and healthful recreation, and the property of that city,

regardless of its industrial institutions, would rapidly decline.

The civic pride of the city of Youngstown that has resulted in this

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186        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

scenic park, unsurpassed in America, has doubtless brought to the

city, not only in comfort and satisfaction, but in dollars and cents,

all that it has cost. Well may those who are devoted to such

unselfish civil service rejoice in their work. It is helpful, it is

essential to the progress of civilization. Its influence like the flow

of the waters of this spring is perennial. Its beneficence is un-

failing. It is a dedication to things that are not dead, that do

not die.

You will now pardon another personal reference. When the

great World War was absorbing the attention and the energies

of our nation, a poem was written by Colonel John McCrae en-

titled "In Flanders' Fields." That was, in my humble opinion, the

greatest lyric called forth by the World War, written by the

soldier spirit who died and lies buried in Flanders Field. I had

the temerity to attempt an answer to those heroic lines with no

thought at the time of publication. It later reached the public

press, found its way into school text books and anthologies, and

still retains evidently some interest as a companion piece of the

immortal lines of Colonel McCrae.

Due to this circumstance the friend who invited me to this

delightful occasion strongly suggested that I present my message

in verse. This I have undertaken to do:

 

 

MILL CREEK SPRING

"Tell us if you can remember

Where your happy life began,

When at first from some high mountain

Like a silver thread you ran."

 

So we asked the "Gentle River,"

Book in hand in smiling row,

As we read at school in concert

In the happy long ago.

 

But not from the towering mountain

Came the spring we crown today

Born amid the lordly forest

Silently it fled away.

 

In the dim primeval forest

Shadows fell incessantly

From the hickory and the walnut,

Sturdy oak and tulip-tree.

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek       187

 

In the resurrecting springtime,

Here the fern unfurled its plume;

Here hepatica triloba

Early rose to bud and bloom.

Here sweet williams in profusion

Shed their redolence in air;

And anemone, the "windflower"

Spread its petals everywhere.

Where this limpid brook meandered

Into dales with dew-drops wet

Bloomed the yellow dandelion,

Trillium and violet.

 

In the long, long days of summer

Often came the drone of bees

As they gathered fragrant honey

From the bloom of tulip-trees.

 

But the hours so long and lonely,

Were relieved by other sound,

Scream of hawk and song of wood-thrush

Broke the solitude profound.

 

And when twilight into darkness

Deepened with its mystic thrill,

Lone and wierd among the shadows

Shrilly called the whippoorwill.

 

In the crisp and frosty autumn,

When the trees of leaves were bare,

From a tree-top in the moonlight

Hoot of horn-owl shook the air.

Lapsed the years through light and shadow,

Storm and sunshine, rain and snow;

Still the waters of this fountain

Rose in never-failing flow.

 

Denizens from out the forest

Frequented its sedgy brink,

Timid quail and frisky squirrel

Often came to bathe and drink.

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188        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

Hither came the Indian hunter

With rude ax and supple bow,

Looked in silence on his image

Mirrored in the pool below.

 

Coyly came the Indian maiden,

And he clasped her nut-brown hand,

As they told the same old story,

In this ancient forest land.

 

O'er the vast Atlantic waters

Came a crew in after years

Came the enterprising paleface,

Came the sturdy pioneers.

Stroke of ax and crack of rifle

Echoed through the ancient wood;

Falling oak with crash of thunder

Shook the forest brotherhood.

 

Rose the cabin in the clearing,

And the clearing wider grew,

As the region took on aspect

Something wonderful and new.

Well our fathers named it Fairfield,

For its fields are passing fair;

Beautiful its summer meadows

With their fragrance sweet and rare.

 

As of old this crystal fountain

Issued from its faithful source;

As of old through fertile meadows

Took its unobtrusive course,

 

Till its channel widened, deepened,

Till it gathered tribute streams,

Till it neared an evoluting

City of industrial dreams;

 

Through a gorge in ampler volume

Cut its way by rocky walls,

O'er the steep poured laughing waters

In its vocal waterfalls.

• 52
 

Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek        189

 

On its way to the Mahoning

Then it fled with rapid glide

Through the Beaver, the Ohio,

On to Gulf, and ocean side.

 

See the making of a city,

Hear the thund'rous beat and clang;

See the skeletons of iron,

Hear the rattle and the bang.

 

See the finished shops and forges,

Hear the glowing furnace roar;

From the fire and smoke mechanic

See the lusty city soar.

In the days of dire depression,

Fortune fair, at times may wane;

But our city brave of spirit

Phoenix-like will rise again.

Phoenix-like from rust and ashes,

It will wing its onward flight

From the realms of dark depression

To new vantage-grounds of light.

 

Youngstown! enterprising city,

Young in spirit, young in name

With the beauteous park of Mill Creek

In her iron crown of fame!

 

In the wooded glens and valleys

Of the stream that issues here,

Nature brought attractive changes

Every season of the year.

 

Till a group of nature lovers

Sought her beauties to conserve,

Added graceful, sparkling lakelets,

Roads and trails in many a curve.

 

Citizens and nature lovers

Well may meet in happy band

And applaud this scenic triumph,

Unsurpassed in all the land.

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190       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek        191

 

Honor to the Rogers brothers

And their aids, whose spirit fine,

Has bequeathed their Iron City

Gift of beauty--civic shrine.

 

They will keep their sacred treasure

Orderly and fair and free

For the generation present

And the millions yet to be.

 

Joyously, O Spring, we crown you

Place these asters on your brow;

May your waters flow forever

Clear and sweet and pure as now.

 

The Youngstown Telegram in describing the dedica-

tion of the spring concluded as follows:

 

"The speaker praised Mill Creek Park as one of the country's

most justly famed recreation and beauty reservations. Mr. Gal-

breath voiced a great part of the discourse in original verse, at

the conclusion of which Miss Mildred Cope placed a bouquet of

flowers at the edge of the spring."

Mr. John H. Chase, to whom we are under obliga-

tions for copies of the addresses of this program closed

it as follows:

 

Maude Adams when playing Peter Pan used to ask her

audience if they believed in fairies, and they always answered yes.

Our Nature Club has studied the body of nature through

geology, botany, ornithology and forestry; but we also believe in

fairies, and today we have paid homage to the spirit of Nature.

We could only do this through great souls like Mr. Galbreath,

Mr. Kuegle, Miss Stewart, Mr. Cope, Mr. Hughes, Mr. Leedy

and Mr. Rogers.

One and all we thank you.

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192        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

INFORMATION ABOUT MILL CREEK PARK

Establishment of Mill Creek Park--

Mill Creek Park was established as a public park by an act

of the State Legislature and a vote of the people of Youngs-

town Township in the year of 1891.

Source of Mill Creek--

About 20 miles south of Youngstown in Columbiana County

Area--

Mill Creek Park contains a total of 1375 acres; extending

along the Mill Creek Valley from the Boardman-Canfield

Road to the mouth of Mill Creek at Mahoning Avenue.

Administration--

Mill Creek Park is controlled by a Board of Park Commis-

sioners appointed by the Common Pleas Judges of Mahoning

County. The Commissioners are appointed for a period of

three years, one commissioner being appointed each year.

The present commissioners are Walter C. Stitt, C. S. Robin-

son, Dr. Hugh D. Morgan. The Commissioners appoint a

park superintendent, who is responsible for all park activities

of the commission. The park engineer has charge of new

developments and construction and the director of recreation

has charge of the recreational activities. F. E. Hughes is

Park superintendent, O. E. Jones is Park clerk, Clement

Beard is Park engineer and Albert E. Davies is director of

Recreation.

Funds--

The funds used in the maintenance, improvements, operation

and extension of Mill Creek Park are obtained by direct

taxation on the property of the Park District. The boundary

lines of this Park District correspond with the old Youngs-

town Township lines.

 

PARK LAKES

Lake Cohasset--

Built in 1896 and 1897.

The dam was designed by E. Sherman Gould.

Height of dam is 23 feet.

Spillway of dam is 147 feet.

Area of Lake is 27 acres.

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek       193

Lake Glacier--

Built in 1904 and 1905.

The dam was designed by E. Sherman Gould.

Height of dam is 18 feet.

Spillway of dam is 160 feet.

Area of dam is 18 feet.

Area about 42 acres.

Lake Newport--

Built in 1928.

The dam was designed by the Park Engineer and was con-

structed by the Porterfield-Binger Construction Company.

Height of dam is 20 feet.

Spillway of dam is 130 feet.

Area of lake about 100 acres, 5 acres of islands.

Lily Pond--

Built about 1896.

Area about 4 acres.

 

MILL CREEK PAVILIONS

Slippery Rock Pavilion--

Built about 1910

Accommodations: Kitchen with stove.

Tables for about 150 people.

Reservations made at park office.

No charge for its use.

Pioneer Pavilion--

Built for a woolen factory by James Eaton in 1821. It was

was later used for a storeroom in connection with a charcoal

furnace nearby built by Daniel Eaton. The outer walls of

the pavilion are as left by the builders. The inside of the

building was remodeled in 1893.

Accommodations:

Kitchen with stove.

Dance floor will accommodate about go people.

Reservations made at Park Office.

Charges: $ 8.00--1:00 P. M. to 6:00 P. M.

$12.00--10:00 A. M. to 6:00 P. M.

$12:00-- 6:00 P. M. to 1:00 A. M.

$16.00-- 2:00 P. M. to 1:00 A. M.

$20.00--10:00 A. M. to 1:00 A. M.

Bear's Den.

Vol. XLIII--13

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194        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

Chestnut Hill Pavilion--

Built in 1922 and 1923.

Architect-- Barton E. Brooke.

Accommodations: Grill for cooking.

Tables for about 100 people.

Reservations at park office.

No charge for its use.

Bear's Den Shelter--

Built in Fall of 1931.

Accommodations: Grill for cooking.

Tables for about 50 people.

Reservations at park office.

Available year around.

Volney Rogers Monument--

Year erected--Spring of 1921.

Sculptor -- Frederick C. Hibbard.

Donated -- School children of Youngstown.     Movement

sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.

Reason for Monument--It was due to the foresight and

untiring efforts of Volney Rogers that Mill Creek Park was

purchased and preserved as a natural park for the public.

Mr. Rogers served as a park commissioner from 1891 up to

the time of his death, 1919.

Volney Rogers Field--

Built in 1921.

Contains:

Children's Playground open from 9:00 A. M. to dark.

Eight tennis courts open from 6:00 A.M to 11 P. M.

Eight horseshoe courts.

Six playground ball diamonds.

One football gridiron.

One shelter house.

Golf Course--27 Holes--

Location: South of the Shields Road on the west side of

Mill Creek.

Designed and built by Donald Ross Associates.

The 18-hole course was opened for play in August, 1928.

Additional 9 holes opened July 2, 1932.

OTHER PARK BUILDINGS

Administration Building--

Built in 1921 and 1922.

Architect: Barton E. Brooke.

• 58
 

Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek       195

Service Building--

Built in 1926.

Architect--Barton E. Brooke.

Old Mill--

First mill built by John and Phineas Hill about 1789.

It was constructed of round logs.

This mill was replaced by a larger and better one about 1823.

Built by Eli Baldwin. This mill was washed away in an

unprecedented flood in the summer of 1843. The present

mill was built by Samuel Kimberly and German Lanterman

in 1845 and 1846. It was operated as a flour mill until 1888.

Log Cabin--

Originally stood in a meadow northeast of Bears Den.

Built by William Hatfield about 1816. It was moved to its

present site on the Price Road about 1873.

Superintendent's Residence--

Located on the northeast corner of the West Park Drive and

the Old Furnace Road. At one time it was used as Y. M.

C. A. Club house.

Foreman's Cottage on Calvary Run--

Original location--In what is Lake Glacier, almost directly in

front of the boat landing.

Original owners--It was the old Brininger House, later

owned by Joe Ristle

Year moved--The house was torn down and rebuilt at its

present site when Lake Glacier was built.

Foreman's House at Glacier Boat Landing--

Original location-Across the drive from where it now stands.

Original owner--William Green.

Golf Course Field House--

Built in Spring of 1929.

Architect--Brooke & Dyer.

Equipped with 209 lockers and also complete restaurant

facilities.

Grills  in  park .............................                                        189

Picnic tables in  park ......................                                    367

Benches  in  park..........................                                       1001

Drives--Foot Trails--Bridle Paths--

There are 20 miles of drives; 13 3/4 miles of gravel roads;

4 3/4 miles of macadam, 1 1/2 miles of dirt roads, 12 miles of foot

trails and 7 miles of bridle paths in the park.

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196        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

LOCATION OF WELLS AND SPRINGS

Wells--

1 East Side Bathhouse

2 Volney Rogers Field

3 Slippery Rock Pavilion

4 Cricket Field

5 Lanterman's Falls

6 Chestnut Hill Pavilion

7 Spur

8 Cascade Ravine

9 Superintendent's Residence

10 Orchard Meadow

11 Slippery Rock Meadow

12 West Side Bathhouse

13 West Newport South of Dam

14 West Newport south of Midlothian Blvd.

15    West Newport at Truesdale Road

16     West Newport at High Tension Lines

17 Bears Den Meadow

18 Bears Den near Ford

19 Pioneer Pavilion (inside)

20 Pioneer Pavilion (outside)

21 Service Building

22 No. 8 Green

23 Amphitheatre

Flowing Wells--

24 Club Center

25 No. 10 Green

26 No. 4 Green

27 East Drive South of Shields Road

28 West Drive South of Shields Road

29 Pump House

30 New Golf Course No. 5 Green

Springs--

31 Slippery Rock Water Trough

32 Pioneer Pavilion

33  Glacier Gravel Pit

34 Sulphur Spring

35 Bears Den Quarry

36 Cohasset Spring

37 West Trail north of Canfield Road

38 Paddock

• 60
 

Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek        197

 

PARKS IN OHIO

Under the Control of the State and the United States.

PARKS UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE OHIO STATE

ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Name of Park                       County                  Acres

Big Bottom State Park .................. Morgan .....             2

Buffington Island Memorial State Park.... Meigs .......  5

James E. Campbell State Park............ Franklin ....         1

Campus Martius Memorial State Museum.. Washington .                            2

George Rogers Clark Monument .......... Clark ......        1

Cooper Petroglyph State Park............ Jackson ..... 14

Custer Memorial State Park.............. Harrison ...   2

Fallen Timbers State Park.............. Lucas ...... 2 1/2

Felix Renick Monument ................. Ross.... Monument

Only

Flint Ridge State Park ................. Licking ..... 24

Fort Amanda State Park ................ Auglaize ....  10

Fort Ancient State Park................ Warren ..... 310

Fort Hill State Park .................. Highland ... 360

Fort Jefferson State Park............... Darke ......   8

Fort Laurens State Park ................ Tuscarawas . 80

Fort Recovery State Park............... Mercer .....    7

Fort St Clair State Park ................ Preble ...... 89

Glacial Grooves State Park............. Erie .......                7

Gnadenhutten Memorial State Park....... Tuscarawas . 5

Grant Memorial State Park............. Clermont ....          2

William Henry Harrison Memorial State

Park ............................... Hamilton ...                        16

Inscription Rock State Park............. Erie .......                                               1/2

Logan Elm State Park.................. Pickaway ...              5

McCook Monument State Park .......... Meigs ......       1/8

Miamisburg Mound State Park.......... Montgomery.                                     19

Mound Builders' State Park............. Licking ..... 80

Mound City State Park ................ Ross ....... 57

Octagon State Park .................... Licking ..... 125

Schoenbrunn Memorial State Park........ Tuscarawas.   172

Seip Mound State Park ................ Ross .........             1

Serpent Mound State Park............. Adams ..... 60

Spiegel Grove State Park............... Sandusky ...   25

Turkey Foot Rock State Park ..........                             Lucas ...... 1/8

Williamson Mound State Park..........                            Greene .....  5

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198       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

January 22 1934.

OHIO PARKS

State Parks

Department of Public Works

Name                         Location      Area. Acres

Buckeye Lake ............... 20 mi. E. of Columbus,

Licking, Perry and

Fairfield Counties ... 4,000

Guilford Lake ............... Hanover Township,

Columbiana County..    500

Indian Lake ................. N. W. of Bellefontaine,

Logan County....... 6,300

Lake St. Marys............. Mercer and     Auglaize

Counties ........... 15,500

Loramie Lake................ 6 mi. S. of St. Marys

Lake.   Shelby  and

Auglaize Counties... 1,950

Portage Lakes .............. 5 mi. S. Akron, Summit

County ............. 2,250

State Forestry Department

Bryan Park ................ 2 mi. E. of Yellow

Springs, Greene County  500

Nelson Ledges............... 1 1/2 m. N. E. Nelson

Center, Portage County   40

Hocking Series:

Ash Cave, Old Man's Cave, Hocking County, begin-

Cedar          Falls, Little        Rocky          ning 9 miles south of

Branch,       Springer             Hollow,       Logan   ............. 2,583

Conkle Hollow, Spruce Run.

Mohican Park .............. 2 1/2 mi. S. W. of Lou-

donville, Ashland

County on Highway

97 .................  500

Waterloo .................... 2 mi. S. W. Mineral,

Athens County .....    421

Dean Forest ................ 14 mi. N. of Ironton,

Lawrence County... 1,700

Shawnee Forest .............. 12 mi. N. of Portsmouth,

Scioto County ...... 19,120

Pike Forest ................. 10 mi. E. of Waverly,

Pike County........ 3,500

Scioto Trail.................. 10 mi. S. W. of Chilli-

cothe, Ross County.. 7,500

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Mill Creek Park-Source of Mill Creek        199

 

GAME PRESERVE

Division of Fish and Game, Department of Agriculture

Roosevelt Preserve............ 17  mi. W. of Ports-

mouth, Scioto County. 8,600

 

NATIONAL PARKS

Monuments Erected by the U. S. Government

Name                                Location

Fort Recovery Monument .....................Mercer County

Perry's Victory Monument .................. South Bass Island

Ottawa County

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200        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications APPENDIX Geological Evolution of Ohio From the Epicontinental Sea.

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek            201

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202        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek           203

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204        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek         205

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206       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek         207

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